People don’t often go there because it is illegal (as a pedestrian). Technically this disused off-ramp is part of the motorway network, so you can receive the same penalty as somebody anybody who walks on the motorway. It was on one of the police reality shows at some stage. somebody went onto the disused overpass to take those cool long exposure night photos with streaky car lights. The police kicked him of,and told him that if there is a motorway incident that police and motorway control can move the barriers, open the gates and divert the southern motorway northbound traffic onto this off ramp.

Yeah it was just the off ramp to Nelson St from SH1 northbound, but used to exit from the right-hand lane. The powers then built a new off ramp from the left hand lane, cos you know, money no object for motorways, build as many versions as you like till you feel you’ve got it right….

“The New Zealand Transport Agency was in November 2009 investigating a plan to extend the off-road Northwestern Cycleway through the intersection, to join it to Symonds Street and achieve better cycle linkages from the west into the Auckland CBD.[5] In mid 2010, it became public that a preliminary alignment had been chosen, with the cycle path using the Upper Queen Street bridge to cross the motorway.[6]”

Funny thing is I never minded the old one, and this is my off ramp, the way to get to Ponsonby when driving from the south. You learnt to just hang in the right hand lane from as early as you like, it made getting through the complications of the previous on and off ramps and changes in lane widths from the Newmarket Viaduct to Nelson St very straightforward. Trickier i’m sure for any noob, oddly took me quite a while to undo that habit.

And no-one could find a few measly $,000’s to fix the footbridge at Kaiwharwhara station in Wgtn (tho’ of course it ballooned to a couple of $million for a gold-plated wheelchair-accessible one), and so the station has closed.

Except that it potentially made the difference between having a station accessible only to those who could climb stairs (as it has always been), or else no station at all which is what has happened. Now, everyone loses and disabled have gained nothing. Great outcome guys! And in all honesty, given the location of the station and the mainly industrial area that it served, it is hard to imagine more than a small handful of wheelchair-users per year using it even it a massive zig-zag bridge was built.

However I think it is quite likely that Greater Wellington Reg Council wanted to close the station anyway and simply used the footbridge as an excuse. Patronage figures while low, were talked down to absurdity by officialdom. Likewise I believe bridge repair costs were grossly talked up (or cheap options were ignored). $500,000 was being talked about just for a cheap fix, while a wheelchair accessible bridfge came in at $2.5 million. Killed it, stone dead.

An engineer who built much of the Northwestern motorway as well as some south Island dams once showed me a crash analysis that showed the right hand off-ramp was actually safer than the others. But you know how managers are: if they see nine wrong things and one good one they have to smash the good one.

Organisers of an 8000-signature petition to restore rail services to Onehunga say the suburb’s rusting 3.4km branch line could be reopened for less than the cost of a motorway offramp.

Campaign for Better Transport convener Cameron Pitches said winning funds for rail projects was like getting blood from a stone, as these were given far closer scrutiny than new roads.

He presented the petition to the Auckland Regional Council last night, saying a new multimillion-dollar offramp carrying traffic from the left-hand side of the Southern Motorway to Nelson St under the council’s headquarters had made no significant dent in Auckland’s traffic congestion.

The old disused right-hand ramp was to remain in place “presumably as an everlasting monument to how easy it is to get funding for roading projects”, he said.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the off-ramp, once you get across Pitt St, is a much nicer place than I expected. A green barrier between the old and new off ramps would fix 99% of the remaining uglyness.

Glass it all in, double glazing and some good air quality filters, and make a public all-weather park connecting from Hobson-Nelson right through the CMJ. With a bike path through the middle too. #makeitso

No need, just sort the access points and it’s ready to go. Seriously air quality is probably better than Queen St, worst bit is at the Nelson/Pitt intersection and the only noisy bit is under K’Rd where the traffic sound is trapped.

Yep – though it must be hard for them when they are so boxed in by political BS. Of course some of the more senior people are just stuck in the prison of their limited imagination – which is much worse.

I cant believe that it took Luke and Cameron to formulate the Fanshawe Street bus lanes. Really? Are there no big picture people at AT? There must be a strict hierarchy that stops people being able to suggest new concepts because I am sure some bright young sparks there must have some great ideas.

Or do they only recruit people with the “right” ideas about traffic planning?

Heres an idea… Seen how the NZTA likes building interesting pedestrian bridges all over Auckland at the moment…

How about an enclosed pedestrian and cycle bridge swooping over the CMJ from the end of this disused of ramp to the north western cycleway in Newton (Ian McKinnon Drive area). This would provide a really pleasant 900m off road cycle and pedestrian path through the busiest part of Auckland linking Newton with K’Rd (west tce) and Nelson Street. The bridge between Newton and K’Rd would be about 500m shorter than the current cycle route…. Just an idea that would be great for pedestrains, cyclists and give NZTA a flash new bridge to show off.

I suggest you don’t – while it was nicer than we expected, it will still be a rather contaminated part of Auckland with several hundred thousands of vehicles directly below every day. I suggest that a flower garden or park might work, but you wouldn’t want to eat anything from up there!

Looking at Google streetview its hard to tell, but it looks like a 3-4 m drop from West tce to the end of the abandoned off ramp. Some sort of curved pedestrian/cycle ramp would have to be created to connect the off ramp with the existing streets, but im sure its not too much for the design team at NZTA.